Opposite Sides of the Track
by AirFireWaterEarth
Summary: 5 years. 5 years of not seeing each other. Vanellope and Hiro weren't anything more than friends, no matter what Vanellope did. And in that 5 years, Vanellope really didn't want to think about it. Only problem? That 5 years was occupied with training to be a villain. Now Hiro and Vanellope are faced again, on the opposite sides of the track. (Cover art is not mine)
1. Chapter 1: Novocaine & B-Team

**Opposite Sides of the Track**

 **Chapter One: Novocaine**

Vanellope knew that she had bigger things to worry about. And so did Hiro. But something inside her still died a little when she saw Hiro and Penny (his new girlfriend) kissing. She knew she should have seen it coming; Vanellope had been feeling like the third wheel for some time now. But she always thought that Hiro would wait until he was older; Hiro didn't seem like the type of person to date at age 14 (or 10, even, if you wanted to begin when they first met). By then she would have worked up enough courage to ask him out (the Sugar Gods knew that he wasn't asking her).

 _But_ , Vanellope thought to herself, _it's not gonna matter. I'll be gone by then._

The thought took her by surprise; she hadn't actually ever thought about actually doing… well… doing what she'd been offered.

Vanellope wasn't really a person that abided by the law. She pickpocketed, shoplifted, made illegal bets, hacked into systems, and, well, you get the point. One day she'd been caught hacking into a game system. Not much really. It wasn't a big company. Or so she thought. As it turned out, it wasn't a game system at all; rather, a recruiting center. Anyone with the mind that made it in was offered a job. The game was sent to anyone they thought could make it. Apparently, they began considering her when they caught her pickpocketing a man. They only issue? She'd have to leave.

And, oh yeah, it was basically a villain training camp.

Vanellope wasn't told anything else in case she said no. And she did. But the man gave her a number to call in case Vanellope changed her mind. But it was just an all around bad situation. It was illegal and she'd have to leave home.

 _Well, do you really want to be around to help Hiro pick out Penny's wedding ring?_ the same voice in her head as before sneered, _Besides, you've been wanting to leave here all your life._

Vanellope was beginning to sweat. She was being absolutely ridiculous. Hiro and Penny were a one time thing. She highly doubted they would get married. They met at 14 for Mod's sake! But the voice in her head had said something right; she'd been wanting to leave for as long as she could remember. There was something she'd never told Hiro- or anyone that didn't know by default in that matter. She was an orphan. Vanellope wasn't told how, but, considering her earliest memories began in a foster home, she suspected it was an abandoned-at-birth situation. Vanellope hated her foster home. Her foster father verbally abused her and his daughter hated her with a burning passion. That life was a living hell. Vanellope had dreamed of leaving. Before Hiro came along.

Vanellope wasn't the love at first sight kind of gal, and she still stood by that. Hiro had been your classic boy-next-door. Inviting you over to play video games, arcade goings, that sort of thing. Hiro was new and didn't know a thing about Vanellope or her foster father or her foster father's daughter. He was a clean slate. So, yes, she did… what would be the right word… take to him immediately. Of course, this caused Vanellope to go to great measures to make sure Hiro never found out, but it was worth it. But remember the classic boy next door comment? Yeah, that's a huge factor. Penny, an ex-child actress, moved into the neighborhood. Oh, and let's straighten this out, by "neighborhood" Vanellope meant uptown San Fransokyo, where it was smaller, and restaurants (Hiro's home) next to homes weren't entirely uncommon. Well, anyway, Penny had moved in and Hiro, automatically, invited her over.

Penny didn't really get the whole robotics part like Vanellope did, but, she guessed, Hiro just liked her better. Plus, it wasn't like Penny wasn't willing to learn; she was definitely interested. Vanellope mentally groaned. Hiro had been her only friend. What was left here to do? Watch?

"Yoo, hoo, Earth to Nell," Hiro said, waving his hand in front of Vanellope's face.

Vanellope blinked back to reality and faked a smile.

"Unfortunately, sargent, I'm afraid I'm still in orbit. I'll land on to Mars, however, to listen to this special announcement."

Hiro and Penny laughed. Another thing about Penny was that Vanellope didn't hate her, which made trying to do something about the relationship that much harder.

"Yo, Vanellope, I think you're still in orbit. Can you go to Mars now?" Hiro teased.

Vanellope sighed and waved for him to go onward.

"Do you want to tag along to your favorite place in the world and watch it get ruined?" Hiro said. Or, at least, that was what Vanellope translated it to. He really said:

"Penny and I were thinking about going to the arcade tonight. You want to tag along?"

What still scares Vanellope into her adulthood was how little time it took for her to make up her next sentence.

"I'd love to, but, I've got a call to make. It's going to take a while."

Funny thing was that it was the last thing she ever said to them.

 _5 years later_

Vanellope wasn't a huge fan of Violet. She seemed nice enough, but something about her was… too nice. No, Vanellope wasn't one of those people that thought everyone that smiled was too perky **(1)**. In fact, she knew a good amount of people that would consider her just as "perky". It was just that Violet didn't seem like she was the type to give information on key good-guys. Vanellope was sent to go on the mission to disarm Big Hero 6, since they were local (although global when it was needed, hence the reason why they were on the List) and where Vanellope grew up. Vanellope was not only reluctant to go with Violet, but hated San Fransokyo with fervor. Then there was a private thought; she knew exactly who Big Hero 6 really was. Or, the leaders at least; Vanellope knew that technology had a signature, and Big Hero 6's super suits definitely had Hiro's signature on it.

"Are you _sure_ that 16119192114184 is _really_ the password?" Vanellope asked Violet in annoyance she wasn't dumb; she knew if you replaced the numbers with their corresponding letters it created "password". The girl had claimed that she knew the passwords into the system. So far the password she gave wasn't working.

"I'm _sure,"_ Violet insisted.

Vanellope rolled her eyes.

"Well, it's not working so, Plan B."

Vanellope cracked her knuckles and switched the screen into code. Violet's protests were tuned into background noise as Vanellope began her work. The issue was that she was so immersed, that she didn't notice a cold piece of metal being brought and held to her head.

"Don't move." said a male voice. Violet had either let another person into the room, or she had changed the voice modulator to _another_ voice.

Vanellope slowly took her arms off the key board and put them up. Then, quick as lightening, she grabbed the gun, turned it horizontally and pressed it against the man, then promptly used it as leverage to leap over him. Vanellope pulled out her own gun and shot. It wasn't meant to hit him, just to warn him. It barely flew passed his head and hit the wall. When training, it was hard for Vanellope to use a sword or dagger (yes, they actually had that on the requirement list), but the rifle— or any gun for that matter — was taken to immediately. In five years, her aim became lethal.

She felt someone coming up _fast_. Tricky. Vanellope turned a knob on her suit and "glitched" out of the way. Vanellope found herself in a position to see what she was up against. Comic Boy (a person within a dinosaur suit that, despite its funny look, shot flames), Laser Beam (a male with plasma attached to the sides of his hands), Colors of the Chemist (or CotC. Her combinations of chemicals resulted in a colorful, but lethal, explosion), Tricky (the female that was after Vanellope previously. She had wheels attached to her arms and legs. The leg ones allowed her extra speed and the hand ones were used as weapons), Bolt (another female that Vanellope assumed was Penny. She projected supersonic sound waves, much like her dog did whilst in the acting industry. Her dog's name was also Bolt), and Bot Fighter (the one Vanellope assumed was Hiro. He and his robot grouped together and could do most anything. The main thing, of course, was fly on rockets).

Together, Vanellope wasn't 100% sure she would make it. But she wanted to. She turned off her voice box so that she could command her suit to her needs.

"892." she said.

The suit began illuminating with electricity. Vanellope began her attempt at hand to hand combat with the electricity to pack an extra punch. She went for Tricky first. Tricky was good at speed, but she couldn't do as much within such short distances. Vanellope tried her best to shut down her suit. It worked in the way that Tricky became unable to communicate, but her suit and weapons did not respond to each other. Before more damage could be done, CotC began her attack. Vanellope honestly didn't know what took them so much time. And then it hit her. Literally.

As Vanellope took a run for the door when Violet appeared and Vanellope cursed. She locked the room with a force field. Vanellope turned on her voice box and modulator.

"You sold me out?" she complained.

Violet sighed, "To be fair, I changed the plans. We were going to send you away, but we thought, maybe, you could… you know, help."

"Over my dead body!"

Violet sighed.

"I'm sorry Greta, I do like you."

Only the central had Vanellope's real name. They used code names instead. A few people used their real names like John and Mary (you could see why) but names like Vanellope's were stored in a different system and replaced with periodical codenames. This mission's nickname was Greta.

Vanellope hit her with her gun, knocking Violet out and allowing the forcefield to be let down. Once again, though, her exit was blocked. It wasn't physical, though. Penny's super sonic waves brought Vanellope to her knees. It was draining her of her energy and Vanellope knew she could either make a run for the door and try and risk passing out while her suit was still vulnerable. Or she could put her suit on lock down and remain where she was.

"463." Vanellope told her suit.

 _Lock down, in progress._

As Vanellope eventually lost consciousness, she couldn't help but think to herself; _another thing that Penny beat me at._

* * *

Light was the first thing that Vanellope awoke to... And she _really_ didn't like it. She briefly wondered if that was the plan— give her a disability so she couldn't run away.

Vanellope thought about turning on her suit.

"123." Vanellope said. Nothing happened.

" _123._ " she said again. Still, nothing.

She hadn't noticed, but CotC had entered the room.

"We put your suit on shut down. You can't do anything that we don't want you to do."

 _Except for taking off the suit_ , Vanellope thought, _no one's been able to do that before_.

She really wanted to sit up, but she was practically horizontal, except for the slight incline towards the top of the table. Vanellope had a feeling that they'd been trying to get into her suit forcefully. But no one could get into Zerous metal. The thought comforted Vanellope. At least, it did in her captured-by-the-enemy mind.

"You can't move your suit. All you can do is take it off." CotC clarified.

Vanellope sneered in her head, _love the whole "you can take off your suit because that's how we wanted it to be" plan. Even now I'm treated like a moron._

Vanellope still didn't say anything though. They wanted her to take off her suit to see her identity, but it could all be cut short if they could just match her voice into the system and see what comes up. And she _really_ didn't feel like being in that situation. Sure, if she ever got out, Vanellope didn't need her name anyway. But the wanted posters wouldn't be fun.

Or Hiro and Penny. They wouldn't be fun either.

Vanellope's mind flashed to a scene in an old movie called _Oz the Great and Powerful_ ** _(2)_** where the witch, Theodora showed "what he made her become". Except, rather than Vanellope's appearance being used as horror, she'd been taught a few perks of being a female. Not that she ever really _used_ them but…

Wait, what was she even thinking? Hiro didn't make her into what she became! Vanellope made herself. And should be _proud_ of that. Still, she was hiding.

But what about eating? Or urinating? Or…

Okay, so revealing her identity could be a must unless she was planning on her escape to be within the next 48 hours. Vanellope found her neck had a little room to look through her one-way glass visor and peer into the white room with a window that was, surprisingly, a normal window with everyone else in the group inside.

Yeah no.

Vanellope rested her head. To be honest, she felt like sleeping again. But another voice on the com sounded throughout the room. This time, Hiro was using his normal voice.

"Well, we can do this the easy—"

"Shut up already! You've been talking for 5 seconds and I'm already tired of hearing your voice." Vanellope complained. Although it was intended to be used as a little instigator, it was true. It wasn't that it had one of those sounds to it, she just… couldn't listen to the sound of his voice.

"What?" Hiro said, raising her perch so that they had eye contact.

"Oh well too late now." Vanellope tried to talk quickly. Sure they could upload her voice to the computer, but, if they couldn't catch her, it would take longer for it to work. Not to mention, the computer had to register _everyone's voice ever recorded_. Vanellope had _some_ time on her hands.

"Listen, I'm fine with taking off the suit." Pause for good measure, "but I need clothes."

There was a moment before the com turned back on.

"Fine."

The people slowly filtered out of the room and CotC left and returned with a simple pair of T-shirt and shorts and set them by the side of the platform.

Vanellope checked the window to find nobody was there, but CotC didn't leave.

"Well…" Vanellope asked.

CotC shrugged.

"I'm a woman; nothing new to me."

Vanellope sighed and thought to herself for a moment about what simply putting on clothes would really do to her.

"You know I know who you are, right?"

CotC's head shot up and she stared at Vanellope with wide eyes.

"You know who I am? How?"

Vanellope shrugged.

"Well, not _you_ , but I know who your leaders are."

CotC became confused, "So you know— supposedly— who Bot Fighter is. Who exactly would the other one be?"

Vanellope said the next name slowly, "Penny?"

CotC widened her eyes at the actual name, but shook her head.

"No, not Penny. She's nice and all but… not quite up to speed with us. Besides, she and H— Bot Fighter, have bad blood. The were a thing once upon a time."

Vanellope snorted, "Oh, I know."

Without feeling much up to more small talk, Vanellope commanded "A71", which opened up the suit and allowed her to exit and put on some clothes.

She stumbled at first, having a very different gravitational pull and all, but made it to the clothes and put them on. CotC had had the decency to at least turn around while that went down. Unfortunately, putting on a T-shirt and shorts didn't take long and, soon, CotC left to inform the others that they could come in. Instead of coming in as she'd hoped, Vanellope was confronted in the worst way possible; _without_ the window between them.

Hiro filed in second to last (Penny being last) and was saying something as he walked into the room.

"So CotC says you know my—"

Hiro came face to face with Vanellope and stumbled backward, eyes wide as saucers.

"You… that's… it…"

Vanellope rolled her eyes.

"So, should I say something now or should I wait until after you're able to complete a sentence, _Hiro?"_

* * *

 _"Because they took our love and they filled it up_

 _filled it up with novocaine and now I'm just numb"_

 _~Fall Out Boy_

* * *

 **A/N: _I don't feel a thing for yooouuuuu…_ Oh wait! I didn't add that. Foreshadow maybe? Yes, duh. So… what do you think? Only Dark!Vanellope AU I've seen yet. There was a YouTube video that inspired this: Hiro, Penny  & Vanellope ~ B-team.**

 **(1) I am one of those people though.**

 **(2) Don't own that… Or any of this, really.**

 **What do you think? Yay, nay, or DIE!?**


	2. Chapter 2: Somebody That I Used to Know

**Opposite Sides of the Track**

 **Chapter Two**

 **Somebody That I Used to Know**

Hiro was having a mental breakdown. Or so people would say if they'd seen the way Hiro bolted out of Vanellope's holding room. It was what his aunt would say when seeing him tearing through his room, looking for all of Vanellope's old things that she'd left the last time he'd seen her— the real her. The old her.

But it couldn't be what Vanellope was thinking right now. Hiro couldn't afford that. She could say what she wanted about yesterday, but, right now, there couldn't be a single waver in a single word— a single _syllable_.

Hiro didn't want to have to do this. He'd rather have been at home, where he could sort this through in his own genius way. But Vanellope had been really stubborn and the group thought that maybe, _maybe_ Hiro could help with that.

"You're not dead." Hiro said bluntly.

Vanellope cocked her head to the side.

"Wha'chya talk'n about? Of course I am!"

Hiro restrained from rolling his eyes (but from Vanellope's unwavering position, it was a narrow miss).

"Okay then… so you have a code name, Greta. But you do know what people really call you. Right?" Hiro asked nonchalantly. If he could get her to cringe, he could work off of that, using the tactic to work her down to more manageable size.

It didn't work.

"I know, awesome, right?"

Hiro narrowed his eyes. "Yeah. Bubblegum Glitch. Real classy."

Vanellope shrugged and looked at her nails. "To each their own."

Hiro tried not to shift in his seat. He needed a new idea; this wasn't working. Besides, he was sure that this was what the rest of the team had used anyway. Hiro had to think like… like he had 2 deaths (or one death and a runaway now) ago.

"So…" Hiro began "New video games lately?"

Even with Vanellope's thick, sarcastic coating, her eyebrows flew to her hairline.

" _Excuse me_?" Vanellope asked incredulously.

"Any new—"

"I got it!" Vanellope snapped. "And no. Why would I?"

Hiro shrugged.

"Thought that nothing would keep you from your video games?" Hiro quoted.

"Oh, and I'm so sure you still bot fight in all your glory." Vanellope snapped back.

Touché. But Hiro was still getting somewhere. Tell tale factor; Vanellope was beginning to look scared. Like you are. Hiro's back grew goose bumps. He remembered his earlier conversation with Penny.

 _Penny walked up to Hiro._

" _I just as scared as you are, Hiro." she said softly._

 _Hiro grit his teeth._

" _I'm not scared. I'm… I don't know what I am, but I'm not scared."_

 _Looking into the interrogation room, however, Hiro knew that was a lie. He looked at Vanellope and barely saw the same person. Vanellope used to smile like that was exactly what the world needed. She used to be able to cheer Hiro up with a three-word maximum. And Vanellope's eyes… they were always well guarded, sure, but they didn't hate like whomever this person was did. But there was something deeper that Hiro felt that wasn't fear. Maybe it was sadness. In a way, yes. It was like Hiro had lost her all over again. The worst part was; sure, she was different. But she was still Vanellope and Hiro had been too blind to have never seen the possibility of what she could become._

No. Hiro mentally shook his head. Vanellope, for whatever reason, was the scared one here. And what 14 year old (that, note, wasn't a superhero at the time) knows that their best friend will become a villain? Did he even care back then? Know that Hiro thought of it, he should have seen this coming; every superhero had a best friend that betrayed them. There was Professor Callaghan, but Hiro wouldn't call him a friend more like—

"Kill me."

Hiro's head shot up as the words interrupted his thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Kill me." Vanellope repeated. "I'm not saying anything. You're not getting anything. Just get it over with. Save us both some time."

Hiro had been warned of this; that Vanellope would pull a morbid card. Vanellope always had a dark sense of humor, but this was different. She was serious. Hiro had to think fast. Maybe she'd been a villain too long to be any less bendable. But maybe he could negotiate. Hiro leaned closer to Vanellope's side of the table.

"I'm getting that you don't want to say anything, but what if we could do a trade off— a deed for a deed?" Hiro could see he had Vanellope's attention, "What about information about friends or family? I'm sure you'd like to know how your parents are doing."

Vanellope's expression darkened.

"You really don't know anything, do you?"

Hiro wracked his mind for anything he could have said wrong, but came to a draw. He couldn't find anything. Vanellope, luckily or unluckily wasn't feeling patient that day.

"Go ahead! Try and find my parents. I've been searching for 10 years and haven't found anything. Sure, I'll negotiate if you can _find_ anything. Because I've been a _foster child_ my entire life."

Hiro's throat went dry. He thought about the funeral he couldn't go to because he was in jail. He thought about his aunt's lack of information about what had happened there.

"… deal." was all he said, before he ultimately gave in and left the room. But now Hiro had a new goal.

"So?" asked Honey Lemon, "Anything?"

Gogo rolled her eyes.

"She was so nervous she just plugged in her earbuds and watched. So Hiro, gonna find the ghost parents?"

Hiro nodded.

"Oh yeah." _If anything, for old time's sake._ "But first, I need to go get something."

~oOo~

After Hiro had visited the local Wal-Mart, Hiro stopped by Vanellope's holding cell before embarking on his adventure to find Vanellope's parents. He still couldn't believe… no, not now. Hiro had requested for the one-way glass shield to be risen in front of the window and, obviously, for Vanellope to be placed back in the room. Hiro entered with what he had bought in a bag, like a gift.

"You shouldn't walk in here alone without your suit. I'm not afraid to—"

Vanellope stopped and looked down at the gift with a raised eyebrow.

"What is it?"

Hiro shrugged, "I just thought I'd get you something."

"I'm not supposed to give you information for it, right? Because I told you—" Vanellope began.

"No! It's not." Hiro said to cut Vanellope off. "I'll just… leave it."

There was an awkward silence in the room as Hiro equally-awkwardly exited. After he left, he visited the newly covered window to watch Vanellope open the gift. It was almost funny to watch Vanellope open. Like a monkey, shaking it around before finally giving in to curiosity and opening it. When she did, Vanellope looked up into the one-way glass with wide eyes, as if she knew he was there, watching her.

Hiro left feeling more hopeful than he had the week before, when he'd first come face to face with Vanellope.

~oOo~

Dead end. Dead. End. Hiro banged his head against his desk at home. Nothing! There was absolutely nothing about Vanellope's parents. It was like they didn't exist. He didn't even find something about the people Vanellope had lived with before, just old police records about the times Vanellope had been caught betting, driving, stealing, and whatnot. There were a few things about him and Vanellope both and, more than anything, there were reports about Vanellope's "death". Before, Hiro couldn't even look at these, now they just made him mad. Why couldn't _they_ have seen the signs? Why did they have to have _him_ be he one to get the bowling ball thrown at?

Seeing his distress, Aunt Cass walked in and put a hand on the back of Hiro's chair.

"What happened to Vanellope was really sad, hun, but that was a long time ago." she said, obviously seeing what Hiro had searched.

Hiro couldn't let his aunt know what he knew.

"Yeah… did you know she was an orphan?" Hiro asked.

Aunt Cass stood next to him.

"Yeah, actually. How'd you find out? Vanellope wanted to keep it from you so badly…"

Hiro's head shot up, even as the words she did? flew through his head.

"H-how did you know?" Hiro asked incredulously.

His aunt shrugged. "Well, Vanellope's antics were confusing me, so I went to talk with her foster father. They— as in he and his daughter— seemed nice enough. Didn't tell me much, though."

Hiro stumbled out of his seat.

"Where did they live? Do they still live there?"

Aunt Cass looked taken aback.

"Well, they live about 3 blocks over, at the colorful house, can't miss it. I don't know if they still live there. But, hun, why are you going?"

Hiro didn't stop to answer.

"Thanks! Bye, Aunt Cass, love you."

Hiro gave her a quick hug, ran downstairs and through the empty restaurant dining area, and made it out the door into the almost-night.

~oOo~

Vanellope's foster father was a short, stout, and mostly bald man with a large nose and a peculiar sense of fashion. He opened the door with a pleasant - enough look on his face.

"Hello! What bringth you here?" he asked. The man had a lisp as well, and had the personality of a clown; chipper, creepy, and obviously fake.

Hiro shifted on his feet, "Sorry to interrupt, especially if it's dinner, but I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions. You see, I was a really good friend of Vanellope's—"

The bald one of the two males burst into laughter.

"What?" Hiro asked, a little irked.

"Vanellope didn't have friendth. What are you really here for?"

Hiro's eyes darted around.

"Yeah, she did. We played video games all the time. And I just found out that she didn't have parents. I just really wanted to know. For old times sake."

Vanellope's foster father's facade fell.

"I'm thorry, but I don't believe you. Good bye."

Before he could shut the door, a snooty looking blonde interrupted.

"Who is it, Dad?" she asked.

Hiro looked at whom he presumed was Vanellope's foster sister and took advantage of her interruption.

"Hi. I'm Hiro. I was Vanellope's friend and I just wanted to know a few things."

"And I told him," the bald man said, "Vanellope didn't have any friendth."

The daughter licked her lollipop.

"She did, actually. Paid me twenty bucks a month to keep it secret."

Hiro felt like he was dying inside. Why? Why hadn't Vanellope let him know? He could have stopped all this. He could have—

"Fine. I'll let him inthide."

Hiro was let in and introduced to the two. The dad was Travis Kingsman, and his daughter was Taffeta Kingsman. Hiro was led to the rather pink dining room and sat down at the table.

"Tho. What ith it you want to athk?"

Hiro shrugged. "Well, I just found out that she was a foster child, and I wanted to know about her parents."

Travis snorted.

"A rotten couple. Thieveth for a living. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?" Hiro was about to say something, but it seemed that Travis wasn't done. "I tried my betht to keep Vanellope from being like that. I was a policth offither at the time, alwayth catching the two. When their anticth got them killed, I did my betht to fight her uncles. Couldn't rithk another one."

Hiro almost laughed bitterly at the irony. But he was still doing business, and there couldn't be any more mental breakdowns. Or, not breakdowns, perhaps but a cracked exterior for sure.

"Uh, thanks. What were their names? I mean, I know they're Von Schweetz, but first names…" Hiro asked, only prodding at the idea. He was afraid that, since Travis had been a police officer, he'd find something fishy.

"Mm hm, Victor and Vivian. Gotta thay, they did well naming that child. But, do me a favor, Hiro, and keep Vanellope'th parentth on the down low. I'm not thure she would have wanted that."

Yeah, but _she_ would want _herself_ to know.

~oOo~

Penny was in front of the shop on the walk home, her dog, Bolt, on leash. They'd been distant ever since they'd broken up, not too long after they'd defeated Callghuan. Too much going on and too little to work off of, was really the reason. He couldn't get forget Penny though; she was part of the team, and there was no abandoning any part of the team.

Still, Hiro was uncomfortable.

"Uh… hi, Penny. Hi Bolt. What are you doing here?" Hiro asked slowly.

Penny shrugged,

"I saw what you gave Vanellope. Just thought I'd ask if you thought that the decrease in temperature in her room was too cruel."

Hiro gave a small smile.

"Perfect. Forgot to do that myself."

Hiro took a piece of paper out of his pocket.

"This has just what we need to get Vanellope talking. It has her parent's names on it. They were villains, like her now... And she has more than one uncle that should be still alive." Hero's hopefulness fell, "Did you know how hard she tried to keep her life at home from me? She told my aunt not to, bribed her foster sister not to tell her foster father about it, and who knows what else. Maybe, I could have helped."

Penny looked at the ground.

"I went to Jamie about it," Hiro winced a little; Jamie was Penny's new boyfriend, "and he said that everyone knew that. Apparently, her foster sister hated her; bullied her, hit her, did the gum-in-hair thing. And no one stopped them because she and her friends had the most power in school." Penny's voice quieted a little, "I guess since we didn't go to school with her she thought it was best to keep it form us."

Hiro looked away and closed his eyes, thinking about all the times Vanellope would cower under a gaze, presumably a gaze of a person that could tell Hiro the real deal. And he never even thought about it.

"Well, nice talking to you. I… I've got to go back inside." Hiro said awkwardly.

Penny nodded and pulled Bolt away from Hiro's feet.

"See you tomorrow."

Hiro waved and nodded before going back into the shop. His aunt was probably asleep and Tadashi was still in the coma… no, Hiro couldn't be thinking about this right now. Too much going on right now, Hiro really couldn't think about his brother.

Hiro walked up stairs and into his bedroom, exhaustion suddenly hitting him like a brick. He checked his watch: 11:45. Not too late, but not exactly the best time to be getting to sleep, especially with school and Vanellope tomorrow. But Hiro had to do just one more thing.

Underneath his desk was a box, filled with video games, game consoles, and a photo album. There were mostly pictures with Penny in them or ones that Penny had taken, but there was one of just him and Vanellope. For the geniuses that they were, they had trouble figuring out how to use a camera properly. Sure, they knew how to click the button, but they couldn't be normal enough to let picture look normal. The one that they settled on was actually hilarious; Vanellope was trying to cover up the flash with her thumb, therefore her craning her neck with her tongue sticking outside the left corner of her mouth whilst Hiro was telling her to just turn off the flash and taking up most of the screen by leaning over to pull her hand off the light. It resulted in a picture with neither of them even looking at the camera.

Hiro missed those times. Tadashi wasn't in the hospital and Vanellope was still "alive". He wanted to go back to those times so badly. Knowing what he knew now, things could have turned out so much better.

Hiro sighed and went to bed, putting the picture under his pillow. It was too late now.

* * *

 _No, you didn't have to stoop so low_

 _Have your friends collect your records and then change your number_

 _I guess that I don't need that though_

 _Now you're just somebody that I used to know_

~ Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye

* * *

 **A/N: I usually have better luck with this when I post this at midnight (in fact, NEVER do I get good luck with this when I post chapters in the morning) but this took a week to finish, so here it is. I redid the beginning and I left out something things I wanted to add and decided to save that for Vanellope's part.**

 **Oh, did I forget to tell you guys I was alternating Hiro and Vanellope's perspectives? Whoops.**

 **But, no, this isn't a one-time thing. When Hiro's looking into Vanellope's past, I'm going to have his perspective put in of course.**

 **Okay, so message for whoever decided that it was a good idea to go ahead and steal this plot in their story "Bad Blood"; not cool. This was mine and I intend to keep it that way. You didn't even ask. I would have said no, but I would have recommended you to write a twist. Like Hiro's the villain or something or if you had a different idea for it, to just credit me in the similar parts. But instead, you went and stole my plot. :/**

 **Okay, so, question for everyone else (it's pretty easy); can you guess what Hiro got Vanellope?**

 **~ Sam**

 **P.S. Notice how I totally skipped the explanation on Tadashi's coma? He he he… I'm evil ^.^**


	3. Chapter 3: Battle Scars

**Opposite Sides of the Track**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Battle Scars**

"You look like you got 10 minutes of sleep," Vanellope deadpanned as Hiro walked into the interrogation room.

Hiro raised an eyebrow and sat down in the seati n front of her.

"I'm not here to fight with you." Hiro said, running his hands through his hair.

Vanellope snorted, "Yeah, right. You're just not here to _sarcastically_ fight with me. You know I'd win anyways."

Truth be told, Vanellope was trying to distract Hiro from seeing how little sleep _she'd_ gotten. Because of his stupid, stupid, stupid "gift". Then he turned up the Mod damn air conditioning! It wasn't like they'd given Vanellope anything more than a cot, so no blankets or even a pillow. But Vanellope wasn't going to let them win. Not like that she wasn't. So she had been just really really cold that night. And had gotten very little sleep. Think of the devil…

"So, did you like your gift?" Hiro asked coily.

It was Vanellope's turn to glare.

"You do realize I have my own wardrobe somewhere in the world, right? How do you know that the 'gift' wasn't really just something I could pull out of my closet?" Vanellope accused.

"Because you'd be wearing it," Hiro answered matter-of-factly.

Before Vanellope could retort, Hiro moved on.

"Well, believe it or not, I did get information on your parents," Hiro said.

Vanellope's eyes widened. How? She'd 13 years looking for anything about them, and Hiro had gotten them in a _day_?

Hiro snickered.

"What?" Vanellope snapped.

"I thought you'd gotten rid of that."

"Rid of _what_?"

"The whole 'unconsciously thinking aloud' thing."

Vanellope tried to avoid sinking down into her seat. She remembered from ages 5 to 11 she'd had the embarrassing habit of saying what she was thinking aloud. On accident, of course. The more Vanellope had lied to Hiro, the more she'd stopped doing that. But having a voice box Vanellope could turn on and off had made her slip…

Hiro cleared his throat. It gave Vanellope some comfort that at least Hiro looked embarrassed too.

"So," he said, "Information swap. As tradition goes, the hostage goes first."

Vanellope growled, but obliged.

"There are bases all over the world. The main one is called Game Central Station."

Hiro rolled his hand for her to go on. Vanellope shook her head though.

"Nope. Not until I'm sure you have something on my family."

Hiro glared, "Fine. Your mom's name was Vivian and your dad's name was Victor."

Vanellope raised an eyebrow.

"You're kidding me…"

Hiro shrugged.

"I'm really not. And everything else in on this file," Hiro waved a tab folder, "So continue."

"The reason why our headquarters is called Game Central Station, or GSC, is because we use video games to test and find our recruits. Like I said, there are different locations. Each location's named after a video game; the one you were recruited with is the one you belong to."

Vanellope stopped. That was enough. She probably already betrayed half the people she knew.

Hiro cleared his throat, "Well…"

Vanellope clenched her teeth.

"GCS is at the very center of all the stations," she dragged.

Hiro sighed, getting that he'd have to ask in order to get it out of her.

"Which station are you at?" he asked exasperatedly.

"Sugar Rush," Vanellope said, trying to even her tone.

Hiro nodded, "Anything else?"

"Depends," Vanellope said, "What exactly do ya have on my family?"

"Dead and living relatives and their occupations. Well, some of them," Hiro responded, "But you're not getting out of here, so, really none of this matters."

Vanellope sneered. _Thank you for that lovely reminder, Dweebette_.

Every movement that was going on in Vanellope seemed to freeze. She… no. Since when… _no_. No, this couldn't be. When had this happened?

Whatever. That was just… a coincidence. The _real_ problem here was why Vanellope had even _thought_ about Hiro by her taunting nickname. That was are relevant and showed how much she was letting her guard down.

Before Vanellope could explode, she rushed out the last parts.

"The other games I know by memory are Hero's Duty, Wack-a-Mole, and Tappers *. Those in Hero's Duty excell in war, the guys in Wack-a-Mole have brute strength, and those in Tapper's are the guys you call to poison your ex." Vanellope kept her chin up (literally) and sucked in the side of her mouth.

"What about Sugar Rush?" Hiro asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Vanellope had genuinely forgotten, "speed and accuracy."

Hiro nodded.

"You said you got recruited by games: how?"

"It depends on who you are," Vanellope replied, "I don't know for sure how you'd get tested on the others, but I'd guess it would be on your knowledge on your category. They watch you before sending you the games. I just know that the people in Sugar Rush had to play a go-kart game." Vanellope looked down, "I didn't actually. I mean, I did. And then I, uh… hacked it."

It wasn't that Vanellope was ashamed she had hacked it. It was that it reminded her of old times. She really just wanted to leave.

"Am I done? I think I'm going to get murdered in the morning by the people at GCS for the things I've said."

Hiro nodded reluctantly and handed over the files. Vanellope took them and opened it. She knew Hiro wasn't going to lead her back to her holding cell, so she could just sat there, looking at the files. It wasn't like there were chairs in the cell and once Vanellope went into her joint cell, the door would lock behind her. A throat cleared. Vanellope looked up. Or maybe she'd been wrong. Hiro was standing at the door where her holding cell was and nodding for her to go through it. Vanellope sighed and closed the files, walking over to the door and into her holding cell.

Hiro followed.

Now things were getting weird. Vanellope turned around and crossed her arms.

"What?"

Hiro looked down at the mint green hoodie, thrown onto the floor and left there.

"Even after you had to sleep through 60 degree temperature, you didn't put on the hoodie… why?"

"Well; 1, I wouldn't really call that sleep; 2, I've slept through much worse; and 3, I'm a stubborn harlot that doesn't listen to anyone, what's new?" Vanellope rolled her eyes.

"Harlot?" Hiro snickered.

Vanellope rolled her eyes. "You've heard me say 'son of a gun' before; are ya really being nitpicky now?"

Hiro stood there for a minute.

"You're not the same person, how was I supposed to know?" he said quietly.

Vanellope thought about the answer, and, at the same time, didn't. It just felt so right, she barely took the time to think about it when it popped up.

"Pay more attention."

* * *

 _The wound heals, but it never does_

 _That because you're at (war with love 2x)_

 _These battle scars_

 _Don't look like they're fading_

 _Don't look like they're ever going away_

 _They ain't ever going to change…_

 _These battle-_

 _~ Lupe Fiasco and Guy Sebastian_

 **A/N: (Warning: I get bitchy) A little on the short side, but… necessary. At least a little. So, normally, I don't update to less than 5 reveiws, but I'm so done with peeps on FF. So reviews will speed it up, yes. Without will I stop? Probably. Is there a tiny chance? Because I'm a pushover and like my plots as obviously some people don't, yes. A sincere apology for those that actually do take some time to show they care about my sleep deprivation. Or at least the story (Fun fact: I usually publish really late at night. As in, anywhere from 12 am to 3am. Tonight's was early (around 9 pm).**

 **Back to the story; I was going to use the song "You Found Me" by the Fray, but this isn't as exasperated and angry and depressed as it is in denial and angry and depressed. So; Battle Scars. I plan on also using another song called Battle Scars in very very late chapters. If there are any.**

 *** I didn't have Fix It Felix for later reasons that you will soon discover. ;)**

 **~ Sam**

 **(P.S. Dear guest that asked if I had a comic with this. I can't draw an apple. But I can edit with audio and whatnot, so I DO at least have an Opposite Sides of the Track Chapter One Trailer and I may make more. It's on my YT account fearingthepain . (Yes, exactly like that; no caps, no spaces, nothing)**


	4. Chapter 4: Part That's Holding On

**Opposite Sides of the Track**

 **Chapter 4**

 **Part That's Holding On**

 _Pay attention? Pay attention?_ What the hell did that mean? This, this was why Vanellope was a villain. Cryptic freaking sentences mixed with a tragic backstory and the habit of being the biggest troublemaker.

 _With no one paying attention._

Hiro growled and hit his head on the desk, hand in his hair. He was so tired of blaming himself for all this. No matter what happened, this had all been Vanellope's choice. He had to realize that. And find out more about her family. This was getting twisted. So far Vanellope, the villain, had villainous parents, was taken away from her family because of it, just to have an even more screw-up life. Right now, Hiro wanted to keep feeding Vanellope information about her uncles, but a voice in his head couldn't help but continue asking about what had happened to Vanellope's parents. Yeah, what they did killed them. But what exactly happened? And what twisted court case had Vanellope's foster father made in order to take her away form her family?

Hiro jumped as the face cam on his computer informed him that there was a called. He clicked accept and Gogo and Penny's faces came up on screen.

"Please tell me you have any news?" he asked.

Gogo shifted, irritated, "Normally I'd tell you that we don't have to do these things, but we found out something weird…"

It seemed as though Penny couldn't hold it in, as she spurted out whatever Gogo had been leading up to.

"Vanellope's uncles have no idea she exists!" she exclaimed breathlessly.

Hiro blinked.

"Uh… What?"

Gogo went into it further. "We talked to them, and Vanellope is forgein to them. Yeah, they knew their sister had-had a kid, but they didn't even know Vanellope had gone into the foster system."

Penny nodded, "Whatever 'intentions' Travis King had, he didn't express them to the living relatives."

Hiro leaned back, "I knew there was something wrong with that guy!"

Gogo shook her head. "Whatever blame your going to put on Travis isn't going to fix anything. Face it Hiro, the Vanellope you know is dead."

Hiro could see Penny's surprise and Gogo's anger as she hung up. Hiro clenched his teeth. Great. Another fun puzzle to add to the mix. Well, two, if you wanted to count the non-emotional one. Hiro looked up at the ceiling.

 _"Hey, space cadet, pay attention to the screen; I want to win fair and square!" Vanellope taunted._

 _Hiro looked back towards the screen and smirked, "It's the only way you can win." he retorted._

 _"We'll see about tha—"_

 _Vanellope couldn't finish her sentence before her phone rang. Hiro could remember how horrified he was when he realized it was a flip phone. But that was done, and now he was just trying to fix it (although Vanellope would never let him near it). She picked it up and began tentatively saying 'Uh-huh.' every once in a while. Vanellope finally closed the phone and sat back down to continue the game._

 _"Uh… are you going to tell me what that's about?" Hiro asked._

 _Vanellope looked over after a couple of seconds, "You lose, and it was nothing. It was just my family saying that I uh- had family over and probably should let the adults settle down before going back."_

 _Hiro nodded and mentally put a pin in it. As well as chastising himself for losing. Vanellope got up_

 _"I'm gonna use the bathroom. Be right back."_

 _Hiro sat there and blew at his hair. Then Vanellope's phone caught his eye. No, that was her stuff, but… Hiro was beginning to feel like the jealous girlfriend… because reasons. Nothing actually like why the girlfriends would and… never mind. He flipped open the phone and looked through the recent text messages. He looked at the content labeled 'King Debby (Downer)'. Vanellope always got creative with the names. Underneath was a strange conversation._

 ** _KDD: Another family._**

 ** _V: Wanna bet they reject me with flying colors?_**

 ** _KDD: Don't be bitter; it's your own fault._**

 _Hiro heard the water turn on and quickly put back the phone. Whoever King Debby (Downer) was, was a total jerk._

Hiro blinked out of the flashback. Now he realized it was probably a family looking into adopting her but… what if Travis had been sabotaging her? Hiro growled. Another visit would seem suspicious, but Travis said he was a police officer. Maybe he could see about the whole situation in the records.

:~:~:~:~:~:~:

"So, uh, why are you taking me with you again?" Wasabi asked Hiro as they went into the police station.

"Because you have a squeaky-clean record and I, uh, don't." Hiro replied sheepishly.

Wasabi shook his head and walked up to the desk. While he talked, er, distracted the officer. Not that he realized it of course. But Wasabi would never do if Hiro _told_ him. Hiro snuck into the file room. Was it illegal? Very. Was anything he did legal? Nope. He held people captive underneath a mansion. Actually, that sounded really bad when he thought about it. Whatever. Hiro continued to look through the files until the clearing of a voice was heard. Hiro jumped.

"I, uhh.., uhh.." Hiro stuttered.

"What're you doing here, punk?" The blonde, short-haired, female officer demanded.

"Well, uh, you see, I uh…" Hiro voice drifted off as he looked at the woman's name tag. Callaghuan-Carpenter. Couldn't be… One of Vanellope's uncles. Which one was the married one? Uh, quick..."Do you happen to be married to, uh, Fe…lix?" Hiro hesitated.

The officer lifted her head, "You're violating a major law, and you decide it's a good idea to ask me about my married life."

Hiro shrugged sheepishly. Callaghaun-Carpenter inhaled deeply.

"Yeah, I am. What's it to you?" she finally responded.

Hiro nodded, "I was actually looking for… Vanellope's file. I was told you didn't know about her, but she was your—"

"You're the old 'friends' of hers aren't you?" Callaghuan-Carpenter said. Hiro nodded. "You were looking for her file, huh?" Another nod. "Listen, in all my life here, I would have noticed my own nieces file. It ain't here. Listen kid; I'm going to let you off. Not because I like you, or I have a soft spot for this unknown niece, but because whatever you're looking into is going to bite you in your underpants."

Hiro looked up at her and nodded, before she threw him out of the room. He had to talk to Vanellope. But first, he had to calm down Wasabi.

:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~

Hiro wasn't able to talk to Vanellope as soon as he'd like, mostly because Wasabi was mad at him. Really. Mad. But he was able to do it, after he'd convinced Wasabi of its importance. There was a story around Vanellope that not even she knew. Maybe.

Vanellope crossed her arms as Hiro entered the room.

"What, no proper interrogation setting?" she asked.

Hiro shrugged, "Nope. No need when we have a mutual goal."

Vanellope raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Go on."

Hiro suddenly felt a surge of anger. How dare she. How dare she pretend that she has control when she couldn't even stop herself from becoming the enemy.

Vanellope looked at him, then to the ground. "I said go on. You don't have to tell me. Geez."

Hiro calmed himself and began. "Gogo and Penny went to talk to your Uncles. They weren't even told about the court case. It's probably why yo— Travis King won the court case. Then I went to the police station and ran into your aunt. She said that, through all her years, she'd never seen your file. Do you think Travis King could have been sabotaging you? To get you to, you know, become—"

"You're telling me that my shitty-ass foster father specifically made me go over the edge JUST to make me join Sugar Rush?" Vanellope spat. "No. And you wanna know why? Because I had a better life working for your _bad guys_ than being _good_. King? He just wanted to make my life a living hell. Whatever messed up things he did, had a different motive."

Hiro looked down. Why was she so angry? If anything he— never mind. He had to make his point.

"I… figured, actually. But you realize that means whatever's behind his motives could be huge. And disastrous. And before you get all smart aleck-y with me, yeah, it could also be nothing. But he's done some scary and illegal things to get you away from your family. And to find that out, you have to work _with_ us."

Vanellope shuffle her feet. "I'm not going to give you information just to because you have a new job to do."

"I didn't mean that kind of 'with us'."

Vanellope looked up and narrowed her eyes.

"Then what kind of 'with us'?" she asked suspiciously.

Hiro smirked, "I have my ideas."

* * *

 _Another fall, through the dark_

 _Of the shadows_

 _I reached for you, only you_

 _There's still a part_

 _A part that's holding on_

 _~ Red_

 **A/N: I'm tired. And I'm depressed. And I have school. :( What song should I base it off next: Viva La Vida, Bulletproof, Thnks Fr The Mrmrs, That's What You Get, or I Wish. Depending on what's chosen (may have to chose myself because I guess I'm just a really bad author or support a really bad ship) Next chapter will either have Rancis, a lot of flashbacks, or a lot of angst.**

 **R &R**

 **~Sam**

 **P.S. I had no idea what song I was going to put in until 10 seconds ago. I just remembered and MEP part and put it in. Hiro's songs are so much harder. though I knew my next 3 for him now. Just not this one .**


	5. Chapter 5: Ready to Go

**Opposite Sides of the Track**

 **Ready to Go**

"There's something I'm not getting," Vanellope said, "No, actually, there are a lot of things I'm not getting because, surprise, surprise, I wasn't told anything!"

Hiro looked up from his files and held back Tricky, who looked about ready to attack her.

"I told you; there's something off about Travis King and you're mutually helping because he has something to do with your parent's deaths." Hiro replied.

Tricky added, "Unless you want to be back in your cell."

Vanellope glared, "Yes. The cell that's _apparently,_ and here's the kicker: IN THE BASEMENT OF A MANSION!"

Vanellope had been furious the entire way up the _elevator_. She realised she was held captive in a basement. And, yes, it was extremely hard to put the pieces together; she'd broken into an underground laboratory that went on for miles. Yet she found herself in a BASEMENT!

"Um," Comic Boy added, "It's _Stan Lee's_ basement." He thought about it for a moment, "But, yeah, you were held in my dad's basement."

Vanellope groaned and hit her seat on the desk that she was chained to which was, by the way, filled to the brim with comic books. Good god, she _hoped_ P.L.U.G would "pull the plug" on her soon. She deserved it.

Penny shrugged, "Hey, we've taken down tons of more notorious villains and they're held in a holding chambers several rooms away."

 _Gee, thanks._ Vanellope thought, _Perfect confidence booster. Feel sooo much better now._

Laser Beam shrugged "It's true."

Vanellope sat there, confused for a moment, and then realized there was a more obvious answer than him having mind reading powers. With that realization, she banged her head on the table some more.

"Eh, maybe you should just say what you think and this wouldn't be a problem." Hiro said, matter-of-factly _._

"That is _the_ problem." Vanellope retorted.

"Is it?" CotC asked.

Vanellope's brow stitched. What did she- not, she couldn't have known about. Vanellope bit her tongue to make sure she didn't say anything and was 99% sure she hadn't before. Vanellope looked away from CotC.

"Hey, Wasabi," Hiro called over to Laser Beam, "Do you have anything with the medical records on Vivian and Victor?"

"None," Laser Beam replied.

"Wasabi?" Vanellope said skeptically.

Hiro nodded, "Yup."

CotC thought for a minute, "You don't know our names, huh?"

"I do; I just know that there isn't a _Wasabi_ in the mix." Vanellope replied.

CotC smiled, "They're nicknames. I'm Honey Lemon, Tricky's Gogo, Comic Boy is Fred, and I think you know the rest."

Vanellope blinked, "And you're just _telling_ me that, like, no problem?"

Gogo crossed her arms, "But you're not calling me that."

"Okay, Gogo."

Fred bit his tongue and Wasabi cringed. As Gogo was ready to sock her, Hiro and Honey Lemon held her back.

"No killing people," Hiro said jokingly.

Gogo, furious, grabbed Hiro and Honey Lemon's arms and dragged them out the door, presumably to talk to them. Violently.

Vanellope looked around the room some more and finally decided to pick up a random file with one hand.

"You can call me Fred," Fred said, "You seem nice."

"Nice in the way that murderers can be," Wasabi added pointedly.

"Actually, since I'm paid to do that, I'm either an assassin or a hitman." Vanellope corrected, "Which sound way cooler."

Penny snorted from where she sat. Vanellope tried not to glare, as she was pretty adamant about pretending the teen didn't exist, but found it hard not to. In her attempts, Vanellope looked back down and found herself looking at a file folder labeled 'Sightings'. She opened it, and found information about where villains which simply went under the names of "King and Queen" were seen. Vanellope vaguely remembered hearing Hiro say that he believed they were the same people because, although they were never sighted, the couple was Travis's biggest case.

Vanellope read through the papers. If these _were_ her parents, they did a ton of crimes; part of their biggest crimes were stealing machinery from high-tech labs (not to mention disposing of anyone that got in the way in the process) and their pettiest crimes had something to do with _murdering gangs_. To be fair, a lot of these incidents were only very vaguely backed up by the survivors claiming it was a couple. Nothing more.

Vanellope looked back up to see Gogo, Honey Lemon, and Hiro coming back into the room looking tired. _Uh.. what went on back there?_ Vanellope thought to herself.

"Everyone okay?" Vanellope asked jokingly, "All alive and well?"

All three glared at her Vanellope held up the one hand she could in a 'Well, _sorryyyy_ ' way.

"King and Queen make me look like a saint," Vanellope decided to remark.

Hiro looked up bitterly, "Do they _really_?"

Vanellope looked away. She never really looked at her track record, but she knew it wasn't good. Starting from even ten it was pretty bad. But what did he know? Nothing. He knew nothing. None of them did. Or would.

Vanellope read the papers some more, before hearing a gasp coming from Penny.

"Guys, we're being infiltrated in Quarter 13." she announced.

Vanellope sighed. She knew that they would pull the plug eventually. But he security camera angled popped up on the screen and Vanellope gasped and leaned forward. It was _definitely_ him.

"You know him?" Hiro asked.

Vanellope nodded, in awe.

"He's my boyfriend."

* * *

Everyone had things that they try to run and hide from. If you worked in for Playing Life's Ugly Game (P.L.U.G), you definitely had things you were running from. And Rancis _thought_ he knew what his girlfriend was running from; her illegal run ins with almost anything. It was what Vanellope always spoke of with zest. But there was that keyword: thought.

Rancis wasn't the _best_ criminal in the Station. But he tried, even a little too hard sometimes. Not to mention, he was good at doing the dirty work and, since he was OCD, the clean up crews had very little to do. The whole 'dirty work' was usually assigned to him by the people in higher power at Sugar Rush. But, this time, he was traveling to meet the guy in highest command; the one that ran GCS.

Rancis had gone through a lot of anxiety while going there and being called into the meeting room (with maybe 6 different guards surrounding him). He came to meet the man in charge, and was completely surprised by the friendly tone and… lisp.

"Welcome! Ranthith Fluggerbutter. Please, take a theat why won't you?" The man had a bulbous nose and wore a crown. Rancis guessed that, if you ran the best and largest criminal base in the world, you'd consider yourself a king too.

Rancis took a seat uncomfortably and looked up at the extremely high desk.

"Good, good," The man in command said. Some people called him "Boss", but Rancis called a lot of people "Boss" and decided just to go with describing him. "Ath you know, one of your… playerth hath gone mithiing."

Rancis's breath quivered, but he nodded. Yes, he definitely knew.

"Yeth, yeth. Well, we need you to bring her back." King said. Rancis just came up with that name on the spot.

His eyes lit up. Find Vanellope? It was what he'd been asking for for weeks! To find her, before they decide her word is a threat to the system and-

Rancis looked up. "Not that I want to kill, or, or even really _hurt_ Vanellope in any sort of way, but, isn't it protocol to…" Rancis trailed off.

King nodded, "Whiltht I can't tell you, Ranthith, let me asthure you that if I wanted to kill Vanellope, I would have done tho already. But she'th better off here than dead. But, Ranthith, remember to kill anyone she'th _told_ anything to."

Rancis nodded. So long as he didn't have to kill her. But a question lingered in his mind; what made Vanellope, who had specific instructions to never meet King, so special as to exceed above protocol?

* * *

 _You've got these little things_

 _That you've been running from_

 _You either love them or I guess you don't_

 _~Ready to Go by Panic! at the Disco_

 **A/N: So the separate part with Rancis was supposed to be in the beginning, so some of the terms that weren't explained until the end were** _ **supposed**_ **to be put in the beginning, but I felt as if it would have more shock value if I put it at the end. Or maybe the real twist is I didn't use ANY of the songs I asked you to pick from last chapter XD Sorry!**

' **cmon! Show some Vaniro love (because there's like, none) and review! Oh! And Happy Early Valentine's Day! (I might to a Vaniro one-shot ON Valentine's Day if I feel inspired enough :D)**

 **~ Sam**


End file.
